Intel 12th Generation offers DDR5, PCIe 5.0 support

Game, Create and Overclock with Unlocked 12th Gen Desktop Processors

The six unlocked desktop processors launched today are the first based on Intel’s performance hybrid architecture featuring a combination of Performance-cores (P-cores), the highest performing CPU core Intel has built, and Efficient-cores (E-cores), designed for scalable multi-threaded workload performance.

Intel® Thread Director enables the two new core microarchitectures to work seamlessly together by guiding the operating system (OS) to place the right thread on the right core at the right time. Intel has worked with the ecosystem on extensive testing to optimize performance and compatibility, and as part of the company’s reinforced investments in the developer community, has published white papers for developers with guidance on how independent software vendors can optimize applications for performance hybrid platforms.

“We’re at the beginning of a new era for the PC led by the introduction of Windows 11,” said Panos Panay, executive vice president and chief product officer, Microsoft. “With Windows 11 and Intel’s new Thread Director technology, users will see their PC performance reach new heights on the new 12th Gen Intel Core family of processors.”

The combination of Intel’s new performance hybrid architecture and new Intel 7 process technology delivers improved single-threaded and multi-threaded performance to enable:

• The World’s Best Gaming Processor: Available with up to 16 cores and 24 threads, the new 12th Gen Intel Core processor family includes the world’s best gaming processor, the Core i9-12900K, unleashing gaming experiences across top titles. The Core i9-12900K provides amazing gen-over-gen performance increases, including up to 25% more FPS on Troy: A Total War Saga, up to 28% more FPS on Hitman 3, and up to 23% more FPS on Far Cry 6³. Enhanced by Intel® Killer™ Wi-Fi 6E for up to 75% less latency while gaming when multitasking⁴, high-frequency P-cores paired with E-cores for offloading parallel tasks enable up to 84% more frames per second for simultaneous gaming, streaming, and recording⁵.
• A Leap in Content Creation Performance: Advancements in multi-threaded performance, the responsive performance of the P-cores and the ability to move data at incredible speeds with DDR5 enable leadership across all types of content creation experiences, including:
  • Up to 36% faster photo editing performance⁶
  • Up to 32% faster video editing performance⁷
  • Up to 37% faster 3D modeling performance⁸
  • Up to 100% faster multi-frame rendering⁹
• ​The Best Overclocking Experience¹⁰: The new processors offer industry-leading overclocking tools for the ultimate performance customization, including the ability to overclock Efficient-cores and DDR5 memory. Enthusiasts and gamers can try these new platform overclocking features as part of the latest Intel® Extreme Tuning Utility (XTU) 7.5. Starting with the Core i9-12900K, XTU will also support one-click overclocking with Intel Speed Optimizer for unlocked 12th Gen processors. Further, Intel introduced the latest Intel® Extreme Memory Profile (XMP) 3.0 with support for DDR5, offering additional profiles, including new rewriteable custom profiles and flexible tuning for memory overclocking.

Enabling Desktop Platforms with Industry-Leading Features

12th Gen Intel Core desktop processors empower people with the performance and industry-leading features for exceptional experiences across gaming, content, and play for today and tomorrow.

Key platform advancements include:

• The first processors in the industry to offer DDR5 memory for up to 4800MT/s.
•  The first processors in the industry to offer PCIe 5.0 (up to 16 lanes), which offers up to 2X I/O throughput over PCIe 4.0, with up to an additional four lanes of PCIe 4.0 support.
• Up to 30MB Intel® Smart Cache (L3) and 14MB L2 cache for increased memory capacity with reduced latency.
• Integrated high-speed wireless with Intel Killer Wi-Fi 6E, which combines industry-leading Wi-Fi 6E connectivity with powerful gaming network technology to minimize lag, latency, and packet loss¹⁰.
• Discrete Thunderbolt 4 universal cable connectivity for external device expansion.

All-New Intel 600 Series Chipset

Alongside the 12th Gen Intel Core desktop processors, Intel is launching the new Intel 600 Series Chipset with advanced features for increased reliability and performance. New PCIe Gen 4.0 lanes make for 28 total lanes off the chipset, integrated USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 provides up to double the bandwidth, DMI Gen 4.0 increases the chipset to CPU throughput for fast access to peripheral devices and networking.

For the first time, Intel is bringing Intel® Volume Management Device (VMD) to PC chipsets to simplify storage control by allowing direct control and management of NVMe-based SSDs from the PCIe bus without additional RAID controllers or other hardware adaptors.

Availability

Unlocked 12th Gen Intel Core desktop processors are available now for pre-order from participating OEMs, channel partners, and retailers. Broad availability will start Nov. 4 with more than 140 customers in more than 30 countries expected to add the new processors to their lineups by the end of the year. Pricing starts at $264 to $589 for the unlocked desktop processors.

Intel expects to ship hundreds of thousands of 12th Gen Intel Core desktop “K” processors by end of year and more than 2 million by the end of March 2022. To enable the expanded offerings for desktop, mobile and commercial segments expected in early 2022, Intel is also shipping 28 of the processor SKUs in the 12th Gen Intel Core processor family to OEM partners.